What Do Students Get From College?

1) The factory is EXACTLY what our high school experience is based on (this is not a new idea and many others have correctly pointed it out. Our structure of 45 minute periods, of having bells signal the beginning and end of the period, the standardization of everyone learning the same things, is all directly off a factory model and is just incredibly out-dated.

Seriously now, why is everyone in high school learning about sine curves and how to balance chemical equations, but not how to recognize a scam. There needs to be a massive new thinking about the content and structure of high school, and the standards movement is doing exactly the opposite.

About college, this is both a social and educational experience where you are learning that you are not the center of the universe. This can happen intellectually on the internet, but not socially.

I do think almost everyone gains from college, but some for different reasons than others.

For bright, motivated, skilled kids:

Academic preparation for graduate school

Learning that there are more questions than answers

Learning how to write a college level paper.

Learning how to research

Learning how much you don’t know

Learnng how to create their own theories, how to test them and how to defend them.

In some cases, learning career skills

Average kids

Learning how to write more clearly

Learning how to find information you need to know

Learning how to read skeptically

Learning how to prepare for a career

Weak kids

Learning skills write a coherent sentence

Learning grammar and syntax rules

Learning how to understand what you read

Learning basic math skills and how to use them

Learning specific skills for a career

This is basically Grade 13

All kids (other options like Teach for America, the military, Peace Corps will also provide this)

All adolescents benefit from a Time Out, called a psycho-social moratorium in the literature. It is a chance to try out different personalities, ways of coping, social groups etc. without great consequence. You break up with your girlfriend, fail a test, let a friend down…so what. You move on. It is an opportunity to try out the things many parents have squashed through the previous 18 years: taking risks, learning from mistakes, advocating for yourself, speaking your mind, behaving appropriately and learning the risks and consequences of not doing so.

Unfortunately, the conditions for these are significantly reduced or eliminated for kids who commute or take on-line courses. It is even worse for kids who live at home and directly enter the work force.

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Author: Scott White

I am a nationally recognized expert on college admissions, having worked in schools and colleges for 35 years. I have been regularly quoted in major publications including the NY Times, the LA Times, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly, Time Magazine and others. I am widely published on various aspects of the college admissions process and present at state and national conferences on a variety of college admissions related topics. I have worked in college admissions as well as independent day and boarding schools. The last 25 years I have worked in public schools, 14 as a school counselor and then as a Director of Guidance at elite, suburban public schools including Montclair High School, Westfield High School and Morristown High School. I am now an independent college counselor for SW College Consulting in Montclair. I can be contacted as swcollegeconsulting@gmail.com or 973-919-6798.
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